The Scottish division of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has hit out against a study published today on the risk to seabirds through collision with offshore wind turbines, calling the findings a “very optimistic interpretation of data”.

The new collaborative report by the Offshore Renewables Joint Industry Programme (ORJIP) claims that seabirds are at less risk than first thought and that the collision rate is “less than half of what would be expected”.

Despite being a member of the collaborative group taking part in the construction of the report, the RSPB Scotland has said the data does not go far enough to prove seabirds avoid offshore wind turbines more than expected.